Museums, galleries and Biennale events often feature woven artworks and pieces that can be filed under the textile art label, so weaving can definitely be considered as art. Last week, then, we got the final confirmation about this truism when Glenda Nicholls won the Deadly Art Prize at the 2015 Victorian Indigenous Art Awards.
Nicholls won with her artwork entitled "A Woman's Rite of Passage", considered as "deeply spiritual" by the award judges and consisting in three life-size sculptural hand-woven jute string (a material that resembles bush twine) cloaks representing indigenous women and the role they play in Welcome to Country ceremonies.
Named the "Acknowledgment" (plain cloak), the "Elders'" (in a natural colour and with an emu feather fringe and mussel shell decoration) and the "Welcome" cloak (in scarlet red with token items and trinkets such as a sixpence and a padlocked chain to symbolise its concealed history), the pieces stand for the unspoken stories of the lives of Aboriginal women in the early settlements of Australia.
The original idea for the cloaks was quite different to the final result. As Nicholls stated in a press release: "I was going to call them 'A Rite of Passage to Country', (but) the collars didn't match up and something was telling me it was not quite right. It dawned on me that they were for women. The cloaks spoke to me - it was a spiritual connection."
Picked among 41 other finalists, Nicholls is the granddaughter of the late Sir Doug Nicholls, a talented AFL footballer and the first Aboriginal person to be knighted and appointed to vice-regal office as Governor of South Australia in the 1970s. She was taught to weave by her mother and grandmother. As a grandmother herself, she is now committed to passing on her skills and knowledge to the next generation, so her work also reflects the continuity of her family storyline.
Tapping into a growing interest in Indigenous art and culture, the Victorian Indigenous Art Awards was established ten years ago to raise the recognition of South-East Australian indigenous art, provide career opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists throughout Victoria, and establish links between art, culture and identity.
Other winners of the 2015 edition include Peter Waples-Crowe for "My Dingo Spirit, SOS: They Kill My Kin(d)" (Victorian Indigenous Art Award for Works on Paper), Troy Firebrace for "Galaxy Swirl" (Federation University Acquisitive Award for Work by a Victorian Regional Artist) and Brendan Kennedy for" Wangi Withinu Ngauwingi Walwa" (Australian Catholic University Acquisitive Award for Work Based on Spirituality and Cultural Tradition). Doncaster East artist Raymond Young, who started making art through a prisons community program, won instead the Victorian Indigenous Art Award for Three Dimensional Works with his series of ceramic shields entitled "From The Ground Up".
The awards have managed to raise the profiles of all the artists involved throughout the years and also attracted media attention to a wider variety of techniques and skills. Jenny Crompton won for example the 2014 Deadly Art Award with an intricate seaweed sculptural installation that impressed the judges for its delicate construction techniques.
The new work created by Nicholls - who in 2012 won both the Cal Award for Three Dimensional Works and the Koorie Jeritage Trust Acquisition Award for her woven piece "Ochre Net" - will hopefully raise more interest not just towards her practice, but also towards the art of weaving, while reminding us all that strong traditional values and knowledge can help us creating innovative works whilst maintaining cultural integrity.
Nicholls' exhibit is currently on display at the Art Gallery of Ballarat where all the finalists' works will be on show until 20 September 2015. Voting is instead open until 7th September for the $5,000 Creative Victoria People's Choice Award (which can be done at the Gallery or online).
In yesterday's post we linked art fashion and interior design through the layout of a museum exhibition, yet there are different ways to look at these themes.
New-York based department stores Bergdorf Goodman are currently showcasing in their windows (754 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10019; until 13th August 2015) an exhibition of the Hypnopompic tapestries by Finnish artist Kustaa Saksi.
Rather than being used as backgrounds for the fashion designs in the windows, the eight large-scale wool tapestries depicting Saksi's surrealist interpretations of the hypnopompic state of semi-consciousness, represent the main focus of the windows.
Quite often the commercial integration of an artist's installation in a window shop doesn't look very interesting, and artworks end up looking like secondary chic props employed to highlight luxury products. In this case instead the windows offer the chance to look at proper artworks in all their beauty and in a very different context from that of a gallery or a museum.
Rather than hinting at consumerism or, as we said, acting as props, the textiles - made of mohair and alpaca wool, cotton, and synthetic materials such as phosphate and metallic acrylic thread - offer viewers and passers-by the chance to indulge in an arty moment even while rushing in the street.
The main colours, prints and patterns of the designs picked to accompany the tapestries also go well with them and the windows could be interpreted as miniature representations of colourful surreal dreams and visions.
The tradition of orchestrating the perfect window shop goes a long way, having started in Paris in 1894 with wax dummies, but Bergdorf Goodman surely took it to another level in this case as Saksi' colourful pieces with their intricate motifs and abstract images of creatures and animals, such as spiders, monkeys and insects, form eye-catching graphic patterns and textures, vivid landscapes of psychedelic worlds.
David Hoey, Visual Director at Bergdorf Goodman stated in an official press release about the event: "The tapestries featured in the Bergdorf Goodman windows are wonderful viewed at varying distances. Fascinating from across the street, and even more rewarding when viewed close up, where one can savor the exquisite weaving technique. We selected fall looks with exceptional textures to compliment the incredible craftsmanship of the tapestries."
Contacted by Irenebrination via email, Saksi stated about this project: "The collaboration with Bergdorf Goodman came about when Visual Director David Hoey saw my artworks and we discussed the possibility of showcasing the whole collection at the famous windows. Naturally, I was very excited to have the honour of using all of their windows on 5th & 58th Street. I love the fact that so many people will see them when passing by their beautiful building in New York. I find it very interesting to sometimes bring artworks outside galleries and to have a new audience for my art. It's fascinating to see the way my contemporary tapestries are flirting with fashion for the Fall 2015 season."
Let's close the thread that started on Friday and that analysed fashion from the 1700s via art and costume displays. For today let's have a look at the collection from Palazzo Mocenigo in Venice.
The Museum and Study Centre of the History of Fabrics and Costumes currently offers visitors the chance to see a new layout, with many costumes and garments finally taken out of its rich archives and storerooms to be admired in all their splendour.
The new itinerary covers 19 rooms on the first piano nobile: all of them are furnished in the 18th century style and look at the life and activities of Venetian noble families from those times; one section is also dedicated to fragrances (but we will look at it another time as this post is mainly about fashion and interior design).
In most rooms visitors will find striking chandeliers in multi-coloured blown glass hand-worked into bouquets of flowers ("a cioca" style): one sumptuous design is attributed to the most important Venetian glass maker of the 18th century, Giuseppe Briati (1686-1772) and it hangs from a ceiling with a pastel fresco depicting allegorical figures - the winged Knowledge, political and religious Power, Justice with the scales, Peace with an olive branch, Fortitude and warrior Virtue.
Many furniture pieces come from the Palazzo's own collection and so do the paintings like the portraits of the Mocenigo family or of the sovereigns under whom the Mocenigo family were ambassadors (in some cases the paintings come from the Correr Museum and Ca' Rezzonico collections).
Though there are examples of textiles and curtains recently recreated by Rubelli, the rooms mainly feature original and valuable fabrics such as ciselé soprarizzo velvets or precious pieces from the 13th-14th-centuries like the allucciolato brocade reflecting the light and producing a sparkling effect thanks to its silver and gold thread embroideries. All the original fabrics come from the museum's Study Centre of the History of Fabrics and Costumes.
There are very strong synergies between fashion and interior design in the new layout: some rooms feature historical-society tableaux that try to present paintings, fashion and furniture in their original and cultural contexts.
One room features for example several dummies clad in different lady's dresses all surrounding a table covered in precious fabrics and with rare and diverse objects crafted from a wide range of materials - filigree plates and fumé buckets, fruit stands, candle holders, chalcedony chalices and goblets.
Fashion-wise there is a lot to discover in each room: light fabrics and clear colours prevail when it comes to women's clothing, but their construction was quite complicated with skirts puffed out at the waist by paniers, tight-fitting bodices putting emphasis on the breast area and cascades of lace hanging from the sleeves.
There are also a few examples of andrienne: known as the andrié in Venice, this style offered freedom of movement and was characterised by a pleated tail that descended from the shoulders, widening out to a broad train.
The Palazzo Mocenigo collection is particularly notable for its menswear pieces. The costumes on display show indeed an evolution from the severe models of the 16th and 17th centuries of military inspiration to looser and more refined forms, completed by the adoption of elaborate lacework and embroideries.
One room is dedicated to the gown that became the official form of dress for patricians: the Savi, Avogadori and heads of the Quarantia donned a black fabric robe with large sleeves and red lining; the ducal Senators and Advisors wore instead a red robe.
All members of nobility had to wear this garment when carrying out their institutional functions or sitting in the Councils or staying in the area of Saint Mark's Square.
Room eleven is a key room for menswear fans: this space is indeed dedicated to the waistcoat conceived as a quintessential garment of the male wardrobe and features over fifty samples from the Cini deposits in the collections of the Study Centre.
Examples go from short to knee-length waistcoats, from partially to completely buttoned up garments (in the same room there are also a few tailcoats in silk and linen decorated with metal threads, dated 1750 or 1775-1799).
All the waistcoats on display have one thing in common - they were made with luxurious fabrics. The front was indeed always made with richly and lavishly decorated silk; the back was instead made of linen and cotton.
Waistcoats were mainly meant as protection against the cold, but, as the decades passed, this garment went through several transformations, shortening and reaching just below the waist and ending in two tails.
At the end of the 18th century it no longer had sleeves, but had a collar. Each piece on display in this section is a masterpiece and a testament to the skills of many Venetian and Italian artisans from those times (it is actually a shame that they didn't do a book only on this section or a series of postcards for menswear fans).
Accessories fans will instead be disappointed as there are no proper displays on small objects of desire such as gloves, shoes or fans.
Yet the museum has many examples of such objects in its collections, so something along these lines will probably be arranged as time and money will allow the curators to do so.
In the meantime, there is plenty to see in these scenarios and a lot to learn about the role of desirable and tantalising interior pieces in the interactions between noble families from those times. You can bet that, while wandering around the rooms of the Palazzo, some visitors may find themselves in a world where - as suggested by the protagonist of Dominique Vivant Denon's novella No Tomorrow (1777) - a woman's cabinet could be even more seductive than the woman herself, or - we may add - than the gown she is wearing.
In yesterday's post we looked at fashion from the 1700s via art and portraits in particular. Let's continue the thread today by looking at one court dress from the 18th century featured in a display from the V&A's Fashion Gallery (Room 40).
The main focus of the display is a silk mantua gown (1755-1760) from England with an impressive construction: the wide hooped skirts of the mantua were already old fashioned in the 1750s, but aristocratic ladies were required to wear this cumbersome style to royal assemblies, ceremonies at court and balls.
The petticoat was indeed extremely wide with sloping sides and it was worn over a "fan-shaped" hoop that meant the wearer had to negotiate doorways and carriages while maintaining posture. While looking sumptuously cumbersome, this monumental dress also transformed the wearer into a living work of art.
The gown was also made with luxurious materials including expensive ivory silk brocade fabric, and it was woven and embroidered with gold thread that sparkled in candlelight with diamonds and expensive lace adding to the effect.
The display also shows silk fabric samples from the same period, a series of accessories such as a paper and mother-of-pearl fan hand-painted in watercolours with a couple courting, and a pair of silk woven shoes with metal thread (one with a silver and glass paste buckle).
The dress is accompanied by a doll that calls to mind Liotard's portrait of her daughter with a doll. Yet there is something special about this doll: the attire she is dressed in with all the accessories and underpinnings of a fashionable lady of the late 1750s - necklace, robe, two petticoats, stomacher, corset, under-petticoat, stockings, shoes, and fob watch - suggest this was no mere toy, but a proper fashion doll.
Dressed in extravagant and exclusive silk textiles, fashion dolls or "pandoras" were indeed used to spread information about the latest style, as you may also remember from previous posts.
Want to know more about 18th century dress? Check out this reading list paying particular attention to garment construction, fabrics and embroideries.
Paintings and portraits provide us with wonderful details about the dressing habits of centuries ago when photography hadn't been invented yet. There are artists - such as Swiss-French painter Jean-Étienne Liotard - who were known for their exquisite precision in painting fine costume details and textile patterns.
Rarely exhibited, Liotard is currently being rediscovered at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh (until 13th September 2015) in the first exhibition that is comprehensively celebrating him in Britain (the event will move to the Royal Academy of Arts, London, from October 2015 to January 2016).
The exhibition includes a series of intimate portraits such as that of Princess Louisa Anne (1754), made with Liotard's favourite technique pastel painting on parchment. This technique gave his portraits a smooth velvety consistency and made his sitters look as if they vibrated with light.
Born in 1702 in Geneva, Liotard studied with Professors Gardelle and Petitot, before moving to Paris in 1725 to work under Jean-Baptiste Massé and François Lemoyne. On their recommendation, he was taken to Naples and then moved to Rome where he painted the portraits of Pope Clement XII and several cardinals.
In 1738 he accompanied Lord Duncannon to Constantinople; he also visited Istanbul and painted numerous pastels of Turkish domestic scenes, opting to offer a plausible rather than merely exotic vision of the Orient.
After this long stay in Constantinople (1738-1742) he continued wearing Turkish dress and extravagant Orientalist costumes when he went back to Europe, a habit that secured him the nickname "The Turkish painter" and that influenced fashion and the fine and decorative arts. Liotard often depicted himself in this attire employing a wide range of media and techniques, document his ageing, but also his passion for this exotic, eastern image.
His years abroad allowed him to gain a sensitivity to atmosphere and a passion for precise details, colours and the rendering of light: in "A Frankish Woman and Her Servant" (1750) the artist painted for example a free lady, a European from the Levant living in Pera, a district of Constantinople dressed in Turkish style and excorted by a young servant as she prepares to bathe. Both the women's fingers are decorated with henna, and both wear bouffant pants (salvar), a vest (cepken) and high wooden clogs (takunya).
A friend of the cultivated, wealthy and cosmopolitan society in Europe, Liotard painted many aristocrats, including the entire British royal family and in 1742 he went to Vienna to paint the Imperial family.
While a painter to the court in Vienna, Liotard created a charming portrait of Anna Baltauf, a chocolate server, a painting that was copied and, renamed "La Belle Chocolatiere", became by 1872 the trademark of the oldest chocolate manufacturer in the UK, the Baker Chocolate Company.
Liotard worked between Austria, France and England: in Britain his clientele included aristocrats, actors, Grand Tourists and men and women of fashion, portrayed in detailed clothes. Liotard also paid particular attention to fine layers of luxurious fabrics such as radiant silk or transparent lace.
In 1781 Liotard published his Traité des principes et des règles de la peinture and spent the last part of his life painting still lifes (in astonishing details) and landscapes. He died at Geneva in 1789.
An expert collector of paintings by the old masters and a refined miniaturist and print-maker, Liotard may not be extremely well-known, but his paintings, pastel drawings and drawings are part of major collections in museums in Amsterdam, Bern, and Geneva.
While his miniature of Bonnie Prince Charlie represents the Scottish angle in the exhibition at Edinburgh's National Gallery, the portraits of people in Turkish costumes are particularly interesting as they testify to the Enlightenment's interest in other cultures, while proving particularly enchanting when it comes to the details employed by the painter to recreate the intricate attires worn by the sitters.
His drawings and enamels or the portrait of the historian Edward Gibbon's girlfriend, of many Austrian princesses and of the members of his own family, such as a tender and sweet portrait of his daughter Marie-Anne Françoise gesturing for silence because the wooden doll she holds is sleeping, prove instead his technical skills in creating delicate, honest and intimate hyper-real portraits in soft precise pastel tones.
Perhaps the best definition about Liotard was provided by Horace Walpole, who stated "He painted admirably well in miniature, and finely in enamel, but he is best known by his works in crayons. His likeness were as exact as possible (…) Truth prevailed in all his works."
If, after seeing the exhibition, you have some time and want to see more costumes from the 1700s, don't forget the free screening of Stephen Frears' 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons (tonight at 6.00 pm), at the Hawthornden Lecture Theatre (Gardens Entrance), the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh.
There has been a lot of talk about Iris Apfel since Albert Maysles' documentary about the New York-based 93-year-old interior designer, antique fabric expert, collector and style icon has been released.
The event featured around 40 objects, among them garments and accessories, the latter giving each outfit a special power and significance. At times the accessories were individually highlighted: modern plastic cuffs were juxtaposed to rare and traditional Asian jewellery pieces, while a brass and steel ammunition bullet belt was compared to a makeshift necklace made with Bakelite sample chips.
All the pieces included in that exhibition were testament to Apfel's witty and exuberant style: like the late Anna Piaggi, Apfel has been mixing in her ensembles high and low fashion pieces, designer garments with flea market finds, combining them according to texture, colour or pattern, without caring about period, provenance, and aesthetic conventions.
There were a lot of eye-catching pieces in that event and, apart from going to see her documentary, a good way to celebrate Iris Apfel would be to create something inspired from her collection.
In the book Rare Bird of Fashion that accompanied the Met exhibition there is for example a plastic necklace from the '80s matched with a couple of bangles from the 1970s covered in plastic and paper googly eyes. Moving from these two shades and with the main material employed for the bangle in my mind, I came up with a a felt and tulle collar.
It may not be ideal for summer, but it's terribly fun, ironic and silly, and it reminds us - like Iris also does in the documentary - that accessories are everything and that dressing, and indeed life, is nothing but experimenting, improvising, being imaginative and, above all, being yourself while preserving the sense of wonder that children have.
Democratisation is the key word nowadays, especially in connection with fashion. But while in this case we are being sold a huge lie (fashion would be democratic only and if we could all afford quality products rather than a pile of rags produced by exploiting workers in developing countries...), there are actually places that are genuinely making efforts to democratise culture.
Many museums offer users based all over the world the chance to browse their collections via digital archives. Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum actually pushed things further when three years ago it launched Rijksstudio, its very own online archive, comprising 125,000 works from its collection, conceived as an active tool of discovery for users who want to access the museum collection and download ultra high-resolution images or sections and details of specific artworks.
The Met Museum in New York now offers instead the chance to improve our culture and knowledge by downloading 448 books from its publishing program for free.
The MetPublications portal includes indeed a wide selection of volumes and exhibition catalogues about various topics and disciplines - art, anthropology, architecture, sculpture, photography, fashion, jewellery, tapestry and textiles, just to mention a few - all in PDF format.
All downloadable books are out of print, but it is possible to check out all the other titles that are still in print (as a whole the portal offers an archive of 1,500 titles, including books, online publications, bulletins and journals), gather information about them thanks to the descriptions and tables of contents and, in case, buy them via a dedicated link to the Met Store.
The most recent Met's Bulletins (quarterly publications focusing on works in the Met's collection or exhibitions displayed at the Museum) can also be downloaded as a PDF file, together with the individual articles or the entire volumes of the Met's Journal (its annual and scholarly publication).
One of the most useful services remains the "Additional Resources" tab: it is possible to find here images of works included in the Met collections featured in that specific book you may be checking or related to that topic.
As you may guess this is an extremely useful resource for students, researchers and readers looking for something new (and immediately available) to expand their knowledge.
If you don't know where to start, but want a few ideas to add to your Summer reading list, go for American Ingenuity - Sportswear 1930s-1970s (1998) by Richard Martin, as that may provide you with some clever solutions for frocks and fun garments you may be working in your spare time this summer; if you love embellishments opt instead for Bloom (1995) by Richard Martin and Harold Koda, a celebration of flowers in fashion that will have you swooning with some truly exquisite details, and don't forget Bare Witness (1996) by the same authors, an investigation of fashion's practice to cover and uncover, another ideal title for summer fun; if you're looking for fashion illustration, download instead Waist Not - The Migration of the Waist 1800-1960 (1994) with illustrations by Ruben Toledo.
You're warned, though, the site is highly addictive and, if you love arts, you will easily find yourself downloading more or less each single title. Yet again, it will be time nobly spent: a couple of hours on the MetPublications site will indeed allow you to download for free a great library of wonderful volumes on a portable device and happily take it with you everywhere you go. Now, that's what I call genuine democratisation.
If you are a Jeanne Lanvin fan, but you won't be able to visit the current exhibition at Paris' Palais Galliera and happen to be in London, you can still see an original design by Lanvin at the V&A's Fashion Gallery (Room 40). The design in question is a 1936 semi-transparent floor-length silk chiffon evening gown with machine-stitched strips of gilded kid leather.
Donated by Lady Glenconner and matched in the display cabinet with a pair of shoes by Jack Jacobus Ltd (about 1930) worn and given by H.M. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen, the gown features long and voluminous "bishop" sleeves gathered at the wrists and is characterised by elegance and simplicity.
The most notable thing about this design is the fact that the gilt leather strips are stitched at regular intervals in bands down the front to create a perfect vertical pattern.
This precisely appliqued shower of gold elements highlights the elegant column-like flowing style of the garment and is proof of Lanvin's passion for precise geometrical patterns, as highlighted in yesterday's post. The gilt leather strips were also used to reflect the light and served to moderate the design's austerity, creating sparkling and shiny moments.
Maybe this gown was behind the main inspiration for Lanvin's 2011 cut-out wedge pumps with a gold hardware cut-out heel and an architectural silhouette (View this photo), but the most intriguing thing about these historical pieces is not what they inspire in fashion, but how they could be linked to contemporary designs in different fields.
Gold details are indeed employed in architecture as embellishing details: one perfect example of a building covered in golden elements is Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects' Deptford Lounge library and Tidemill Academy (2011) in Lewisham with its surface decorated with horizontal strips of gold.
Swarovski's cultural programme this year includes the first major retrospective of French couturier Jeanne Lanvin at the Palais Galliera in Paris. The exhibition - organised in collaboration with Alber Elbaz, artistic director of Lanvin, and with Olivier Saillard, Director of the Palais Galliera as General Curator - is the first one in the French capital dedicated to the French couturier and to the oldest Parisian fashion house still operating.
Born in 1867, Jeanne Lanvin started her career as an apprentice for the milliner Madame Bonni and, in 1885 she opened her own millinery business. Her first "Lanvin (Melle Jeanne) Modes" store was based in 16 Rue Boissy d'Anglas, and, in 1893 she moved to 22 Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré.
The birth of her daughter Marguerite in 1897 prompted the designer to launch a collection of children's clothes, followed in 1909 by the Young Ladies' and Women's department. As the years passed, Lanvin slowly yet relentlessly expanded, coming up with a brides' section, departments for lingerie and furs and launching in the early 1920s interior decoration in partnership with Armand-Albert Rateau, and sport, followed by menswear in 1926.
A year later, she celebrated her daughter Marguerite's thirtieth birthday with the creation of the perfume Arpège sold in Armand-Albert Rateau's round, black bottle, characterised by a gold print of the famous logo designed by Paul Iribe, depicting Jeanne with Marguerite (now Marie-Blanche de Polignac). In the logo mother and daughter are dressed for a costume ball and they are holding hands and looking into each other's eyes.
The logo - designed in the 1920s, applied to all Lanvin's packaging, including perfumes, hat boxes, wrapping, notepaper and gift boxes, and still used as the symbol of the maison - was chosen by Jeanne to show the love she felt for her child and to hint at the origins of her inspiration, children's clothes.
The exhibition features over one hundred models (mostly women's wear from the 1920s and '30s) from the Palais Galliera and the Lanvin Heritage collections. All the pieces display Lanvin's taste for quality, something she had inherited from Paul Poiret. The garments and accessories are not showcased in a strictly chronological and academic order, but follow a series of themes and are displayed flat in steel-and-glass boxes with mirrors above.
The starting point is Lanvin's logo, celebrated in the first section, "From Logo to Black & Gold". The logo and the bottle are showcased in this section together with key garments (one important thing to keep in mind is that, rather than numbering her creations, Lanvin preferred to give them names) such as the "Lohengrin" coat (1931) in silk satin gold lamé topstitched in silk thread, and the "Walkyrie" (or "Brunehilde", 1935) gold lamé evening gown. The latter also featured a wide topstitched sash ending in a train that was inspired by the Japanese obi.
The techniques Lanvin loved are explored in the second section that allows visitors to focus on embroideries, fabrics, airiness, topstitchings, intertwinings, spirals, black and white geometrical patterns, ribbons and Swarovski crystals, beads, appliqués, and transparent and opaque elements and details (the "My Fair Lady" dress from 1939 in black organdie with a bias-cut ribbon and a large black taffeta knot is a perfect example of this juxtaposition).
Topstitching is analysed a bit more in-depth in this section: this technique borrowed from traditional garments became indeed Lanvin's trademark and the designer often employed quilted topstiching in geometric patterns but applied it to luxurious fabrics to create voluminous garments.
The "Neptune" dress (1926-27) in this section made in black silk satin and fringes on the bias is testament to Lanvin's passion for fringes, while the "Rarahu" (Summer 1928) afternoon coat in wild silk and waxed black lace reminds viewers of her passion for geometrical elements mainly employed to highlight the cut of a garment. A black wool coat (1936) from the wardrobe of Countess Greffulhe is among the highlights of this part and features a very modern and architectural arrangement of brick-like rectangles that make it look like a surrealist wall.
An interlude section featuring photographs, headed notepaper and labels and a series of models - "Orphée", "Passionata", "Concerto", and "Sèvres" - that played on the positive-negative effect, focuses on Lanvin's passion for the black and white twin tone aesthetic.
Visitors who like colours will instead fall in love with the next section: Lanvin was inspired indeed by the intense blue in frescoes by Fra Angelico, a shade that became her favourite colour and that she applied to a variety of creations - "Vitrail", "Azur", "Delft", "Lavande", "Firmament", "Bleu nuit", "Saphir", "Indigo", "Lazuli", "Outremer" - in various nuances of lavender, royal, electric and stained-glass blue.
One dress from 1911 beautifully combines black and midnight blue, while the midnight blue silk velvet and silvered metal sequin embroidery evening gown "La Diva" (Winter 1935-36) calls to mind the tunics donned by Fra Angelico's angels, the silver sequins creating striking contrasts with the deep blue shade. Interior designs fans will make interesting connections in this section since Lanvin and Armand-Albert Rateau chose a special shade of blue for the Théâtre Daunou, and for the bedroom and boudoir in the designer's townhouse on the Rue Barbet-de-Jouy.
Construction-wise the next section creates a contrast with this previous one, since it focuses on Lanvin's robe de style, a garden party and formal event dress that became popular in the 1920s and found lasting success with children, girls and women. This line was indebted to the 18th century and the second Empire and to hoops and crinolines.
Characterised by a small waist, a close-fitting bodice and a bouffant skirt mounted on wire hoops and embellished with flounces, petals, lace, ribbons, rosettes or bows, this style appealed to Lanvin-wearing personalities like Jane Renouardt, Raquel Meller and Yvonne Printemps.
Robes de style were present in every collection and were widely praised by fashion magazines such as The Gazette du Bon Ton, that claimed these dresses were "works of art" for their decorative embellishments and for their names - "Casanova", "Impératrice", "Versailles", "Duchesse", "Vision d'antan", "Cendrillon" - that attempted to make connections with cultural references from the past.
Among the best designs there are two examples of this style, "Marjolaine" (Summer 1921), in bronze silk taffeta with a large decorative rosette, and "Colombine" (Winter 1924-1925), in a porcelain-like silk taffeta with a red bow and black silk velvet appliqués, elements inspired by the Far East.
Lanvin started as a milliner, so the event includes a section dedicated to women's bonnets from the first decade of the 1900s, but gives a lot of space to children's clothes.
Lanvin's first children's collection took its inspiration from the clothes she made for Marguerite and her dolls, which were admired by other little girls and by their mothers. The garments on display here show a derivation of children's clothing from adult's garments: both were characterised by beautiful fabrics, such as silk chiffon, and details like silver metallic lace, fringes and flowers.
The next space is extremely colourful: Lanvin was part of the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris (she was its executive president and the president of its clothing section that comprised 70 couturiers).
Her designs were showcased in the Pavilion of Elegance as jewels: they were covered in beads, crystals, gold and silver lamé, and came in bright shades such as absinthe green (see "La Duse" or the "Lesbos" dresses, both from 1925; the former inspired by actress Eleonora Duse; the latter featured two loose, embroidered braids forming a double string of beads). In contrast with these crêpe and silk satin dresses covered with thin glass beads, metal threads and gold lamé appliqués, the exhibition includes "La Cavallini", a black robe de style with an oversized embroidered bow.
Lanvin was known among the Parisian houses for her use of embroidery and beads: the house's dresses were indeed conceived as canvases for a variety of sources and innovative materials and Lanvin also founded her own embroidery workshops to prevent being copied. New embroidery samples were created by Camille and Madame Mary, Lanvin's artistic directors, and, while she didn't draw herself, Lanvin took inspiration from her library that included books about botanical and travel topics and volumes on paintings.
This explains the exotic or geometric inspirations behind some of the designs included in the next section, entirely dedicated to flamboyant garments with beautiful decorative motifs including sequined necklines and collars, trompe l’oeil jewellery and belts, or sober and sophisticated dresses with straight lines and a high waist like the one with appliquéd gold frogging with wavy embellishment that belonged to Madame Combe Saint-Macary, a client of Jeanne Lanvin's, or the powder pink "Alcmène", a copy of a model worn by Valentine Tessier in the role of Alcmène in Giraudoux's 1929 play made for a client of the fashion house.
Another key source of inspiration for Lanvin was her collection of fabrics from all over the world, and of ancient textiles (she would buy them in her travels or at flea markets). This inspiration emerges in the exotic and ethnic section of the exhibition with decorative motifs borrowed from far away countries including China ("Tirelire", 1920; the embroidery in this design was derived from Chinese bronzes) and Russia ("Donatienne", Winter 1920-21, a simple peasant dress with striking coral decorations).
Lanvin was also inspired by religious garments such as ecclesiastical vestments and monastic lines, as proved by some of the names of Lanvin's models - "Alleluia", "Angelus", "Reliquary" and "Stained Glass". The violet "Jupiter" evening coat (1920) with geometrical patterns in gold thread influenced by Egyptian and Byzantine décor, featured for example a trompe-l'oeil effect on the back creating the illusion of a large hood that recalled orthodox ecclesiastical vestments, while the "Fausta" (or "Petit dîner", 1928-1929) dress with its austere cut, a series of trompe l’oeil silver bracelets and a cross motif on the front was testament to Lanvin's liturgical inspiration.
Geometry and Art Deco influences were instead derived from the passion for Cubism and abstraction in the 1920s: the "Boulogne" (Summer 1920) dress in beige crêpe, red crêpe, red stitching and navy blue appliqués featured a repetitive triangular pattern that hinted at the possibilities of geometrism.
The final sections focus on brides and evening gowns: from 1909, Lanvin started selling wedding gowns, bridesmaid's dresses and ceremonial and page's outfits. The bridal gown "Mélisande" (Summer 1929) in this section reunites simplicity and ornamentation (white pearls, fine pearls and gold metallic threads), while magnificent dresses and grand coats conclude the event in grand style.
There are several highlights in this section including the black and white tulle and black crêpe "Scintillante" (Summer 1939) gown with its trompe l'oeil bolero; the black taffeta "Bel oiseau" (1928) gown with its embroidery of half tubes and Swarovski crystals forming the pattern of a bird; a 1937 black taffeta evening coat embroidered with layers of sequins in a technique that multiplied the sparkling effect; and the voluminously sober navy blue silk taffeta evening coat "Sérénade" (also called "Barcarolle", Winter 1945-1946), one of Jeanne Lanvin's last creations.
Lanvin died in 1946, but she left behind a huge archive preserved by the house's heritage department (Patrimoine Lanvin) that also stores the entire set of all the drawings from the collections of Jeanne Lanvin and from the creators who succeeded the founder, including amongst others Antonio del Castillo (1950-1963), Jules-François Crahay (1964-1984), Claude Montana (1990-1992) and Alber Elbaz (2001).
At the end of the exhibition you get the feeling that Jeanne Lanvin was a real innovator since, like Poiret, she conceived a fashion label as a 360° lifestyle that offered clients not just garments and accessories, but also beauty, fragrances and interior design products.
Fashion-wise this event remains memorable for its terrifically striking sobriety: there are no designs by Elbaz in this exhibition, so his fans may be disappointed, but all the pieces on display look poetically modern and even more desirable than the present collections. It is indeed definitely impossible to compare a beautiful velvet swimsuit covered in mirror embroideries dated 1924 with some of the ensembles in many contemporary collections.
These garments clearly display the excellent skills of the craftspeople at Lanvin's workshops, so visitors are warned - it will be very difficult to get out of the Galliera without craving the quality, quiet elegance, precise cut and intricate embellishments displayed by these pieces, proof of Lanvin's curiosity and timeless virtuosity.
"Jeanne Lanvin" runs through 23rd August 2015 at the Palais Galleria, Paris.
"I was like a wild child when I got to Swarovski. I wanted to have everything, to touch everything. And I don't just want to use crystal - I want to invent something new, " Alexander McQueen stated in 1998 after a trip to Swarovski's headquarters in Austria.
Swarovski is one of the partners of the exhibition "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty" (on until today at the V&A) that includes over 20 crystal embellished pieces designed by McQueen in collaboration with the company.
Swarovski first sponsored McQueen's "No. 13" (S/S 1999) collection and, from then on, the designer kept on collaborating with the company creating tops made entirely from strands of crystal chain ("Eshu", A/W 2000), heavily beaded gowns, jumpsuits and thigh-high crystal boots ("Deliverance", S/S 2004), while working with Shaun Leane and Philip Treacy on gemstone encrusted headpieces.
To celebrate this connection, Swarovski launched a project with ten students from the third year BA Jewellery Design course at Central Saint Martins, asking them to design pieces inspired by McQueen's main themes and by the exhibition at the V&A.
Though the display in Room 25 at the V&A (in May) didn't really make them justice (showing the creations flat and under glass cases with no explanations about how they were going to be worn wasn't the best choice...), the results were imaginative, theatrical and at times pretty disturbing.
Fetishism prevailed in Akiko Shinzato's bejewelled vegetable tanned leather mask with a fixed clownish smile that hides the wearer's identity.
History appeared to be the main references in Kota Okuda's tam o'shanter leather bonnet. MCQueen-wise the latter was directly linked to the "Highland Rape" collection and combined traditional dress and modes of adornment with the fractured colonial landscape and with contemporary issues of identity.
McQueen was fascinated by hybrid creatures and at times he came up with designs that transformed women in aggressive birds. Karen Leung tackled this theme in her wearable claws made with polyester cord and with traditional basket weaving techniques.
Also Dennis Song's feral neckpiece seemed to move from this theme: inspired by McQueen's "Voss" collection, the designer also tried to embody through this creation an intangible concept – human desire. Song's huge tentacle-like claws with sharp nails are indeed designed to sit around the neck and shoulder area and strangle, eat and consume the wearer.
Fiona Kakei Chong looked at the integration of natural materials in her piece: McQueen's "Savage Beauty" includes a razor clam dress and, in Chong's wig-like porcelain, nylon, silver, leather and gemstones headdress the designer used seashells as body adornment drawing from ancient Roman hairstyles and tribal adornments.
Architecture was also indirectly tackled: Birgit Toke Tauka Frietman responded to McQueen's dichotomic elements (soft Vs rigid; fragile Vs hard...), with a black walnut and suede shield-like piece that protects and exposes the wearer's body thanks to its large silhouette integrating crystals within a laser-cut pattern and guaranteeing in this way lightness and elegance.
Jessica Pass's angular neckpiece structure also had something architectural about it, and juxtaposed delicate pheasant feathers to a strong and heavy foldable structure.
Architecture-wise, Xinyu Wang's design was probably the most striking: Wang recreated a sort of camera view finder with four sparkling corners that frame the head and the face of the wearer, highlighting and attracting attention to these areas like McQueen's headpieces used to do.
Future was another theme on the mind of some of the students: McQueen's "Plato's Atlants" inspired Juliette van de Kerchove's nude pink collar, envisaged as a response to the way the human body adapts to the changes in the physical environment.
Charlotte Asherson was inspired by McQueen's S/S 2009 collection "Natural Dis-tinction Un-natural Selection" and by the dawn of the industrial age and came up with a transparent PVC cape covered in marlstone elements, nuts, screws and crystals.
In his "Natural Dis-tinction Un-natural Selection" collection McQueen stated that he had employed cystals in pieces such as his Bell Jar Dress to "hint to a more optimistic vision of where we are today". While the projects by the students involved in this project were quite intriguing, they all tended to look at the most bizarre, dramatic and fetishistic aspects of McQueen's practice. In a nutshell, that tiny glimpse of optimism that McQueen was craving for was exactly what was missing in these pieces.
